Valentine's Day Comes But Once A Year

Greg Sanders pulled on his lab coat ready to start the graveyard shift. He looked at the assortment of evidence waiting to be tested. Greg supposed it served him right for slipping away early from his last shift. As he was about to start analysing some hairs that Catherine and Warrick had found, there was a knock on the door. Removing his latex gloves Greg opened the door and came face to face with Sara Sidle.

"Am I disturbing you?" She asked, Sara was dressed in her usual forensic gear, he dark brown hair was tied in a loose bun.

"No, it's a welcome distraction." Greg replied with a grin. Then he paused. "What is it?"

"Well if you're not too busy could you take a look at these?" Sara asked, holdinh up two more evidence bags.

"Sure, thanks." He replied, eyebrows raised at the contents. "How do you fancy dinner tomorrow?"

Sara handed over the bags. "Greg, it's Valentine's Day tomorrow."

"Uh huh." Greg replied, he was aware of that but hoped that Sara had forgotten, clearly she hadn't.

"Well, it makes a change from coffee." She replied with a smirk, referring to all the previous dates she had turned down. With that she headed off down the corridor to join Nick.

Greg sighed and began to look through the evidence bags. He started on them first, knowing that it would give him another chance to talk to Sara.

At the end of the nightshift Grissom, Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg met in the break room. Once they had finished their coffees the CSIs split up and headed their separate ways. Greg caught up with Sara in the corridor with the results of the analysis.

"Thank you." She said, a little surprised as she scanned over documents.

"About tomorrow...?" Greg began, trying his luck. After all he had nothing else to lose.

"What time are you picking me up?"

Greg tried but failed to hide his surprise.

"Oh...um...err...about eight o'clock?"

Sara smiled at him, not unkindly. "See you then."

Greg nodded, and watched her walk away.

Sara Sidle climbed into her car and drove away from the crime labs just as dawn was beginning to break in Las Vegas. She turned on the radio and was blasted with soppy, romantic love songs telling Sara that in was in fact the very early hours of St Valentine's Day. The thought depressed her, she had been so lonely recently, getting over Grissom had been hard but she felt better for it. Maybe the loneliness was what had made her agree to a date with Greg Sanders, maybe it wasn't. Sara knew she needed to get some sleep and then maybe the insanity of it all would have faded a little.

Dragging himself out of bed at three o'clock that afternoon, the 14th of February, Greg threw on a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt. He decided it was time to give his car a valet. He couldn't expect Sara to sit amongst the crumbs and food wrappers that had accumulated on and underneath the seats. After cleaning the car Greg went to the florists and bought one of their last bunches of roses for Sara. He still couldn't believe that she had said yes, he was sure that there must be a catch. With two hours to spare he jumped into the shower before changing into a suit that he had only worn once. He wanted to make the effort for Sara.

Sara Sidle had never been a girly girl, not when she was growing up and not now but she was having a serious fashion dilemma. She knew that she was just meeting Greg and that she didn't really need to try that hard but for some reason she wanted to. Sara felt that she had been hard on him recently even when she had really needed him and she wanted to make up for that. Deciding on a purple satin, knee length dress Sara showered and washed her hair. She slipped into the dress and looked at herself in the mirror, then she glanced at the clock. It was already seven thirty, this would have to do.

Shortly before eight o'clock Greg pressed his horn before getting out of the car, the bunch of roses in his hand. He rang the doorbell and waited for Sara to appear. Greg could barely hide his surprise when he saw her. He had always thought she was beautiful but tonight there really was no denying it. She smiled, nervously at him and he grinned back, equally sheepishly. Not knowing what to do next, Greg handed over the bouquet of flowers.

"Thank you Greg." Sara smiled. "They're beautiful."

He realised too late, the purple dress and the red roses clashed horribly. Greg blushed a similar colour, he knew he should have bought the white ones.

"I'm sorry." He said.

Sara smiled, she had only just noticed.

"I don't care." She said, kissing his cheek. "I love them."

Greg smiled too, waiting while she took the flowers inside and then locked the front door.

"Where are we going?" Sara asked, once Greg had opened the car door and they had both got in.

Greg turned away from the road for a moment. He tapped his index finger against his nose.

"That's just another surprise Ms. Sidle." He informed her, Sara couldn't help but laugh, she was enjoying this more than she had thought she would.

Sara was surprised to see that Greg had booked them a table at one of Las Vegas' top restaurants. She hadn't expected this, not after the usual propositions of a latte at Starbucks.

"Whoa." She exhaled. "You didn't have go this upmarket." She told Greg, who grinned at her.

"You deserve it. You've had a pretty rubbish year and you deserve to be spoilt."

Sara was touched and when Greg reached for her hand she let him take it. Feeling stronger than she had in a long time.

An hour and a half later Sara and Greg sat laughing together, sipping red wine.

"That was amazing." Sara gushed. "Thank you!"

"That's not the last surprise tonight." Greg told her and Sara was alert, even after all of the wine she had consumed.

Greg placed a small, emerald green, velvet jewellery box on the table between them. Sara's breath caught in her throat, surely it couldn't be? Greg watched her as she opened the box, puzzled by the mixture of emotions on her face as she saw the pair of diamond earrings.

"They're lovely." She smiled, leaning across the table her lips meeting Greg's. He kissed her back, happy that she was enjoying herself after everything she had been through recently.

Greg grinned, then looked at his watch.

"I'd better get you home." He said. "Grissom would never forgive me if I made you late for work!"

Sara shrugged. "This time it's too bad."

They laughed and Greg lead her to his car where they kissed again before he started the engine.

When they arrived at Sara's house she asked:

"Do you want to come in?"

Greg nodded. "I could do with a coffee."

Sara raised her eyebrows and laughed at him. Maybe Sara wasn't the only one to get a few surprises that Valentine's Day.

Please review! I hope you liked it, it was my first go at a CSI fanfic and I'd love some feedback! Luv Vikki x